Building a surefire aftermarket diagnostic scan tool that can also keep pace with increasing electronic complexity and handle all versions of a brand, let alone multiple model platforms, is like trying to grasp the horizon. While close, it always seems to be just beyond one’s reach. But sometimes, forces and currents converge within this automotive industry, which provide opportunities for meaningful change. If we are to make progress in improving vehicle serviceability, we must recognize and seize these opportunities.

“Electronic failures now account for over 65 percent of all vehicle breakdowns.” — MXI International Inc.

The challenges faced by aftermarket scan tool manufacturers are real; they impact shops and technicians who use them every day. Automakers now recognize that consumers’ brand experience and their next purchase decision hinge on how easily and completely vehicles are serviced and repaired — be it at a dealership or an independent facility.

So, what’s the beef? Automaker factory-level scan tools aren’t perfect, but they are the most complete tools one can use. Be it hardware, software or firmware, when gaps, glitches or bugs are identified, they get addressed. Being the most complete and most functional also comes with a higher price — in most cases.

In contrast, aftermarket scan tools generally fall short of an OE tool and both their pricing and functionality reflects that. Of all the datastreams available to them, aftermarket toolmakers select a narrower feature set they have identified that fits a market niche, price point or other criteria. For example, aftermarket tire pressure monitoring system diagnostic tools range from basic identifiers to full function tools capable of much more, including reinitializing. Scan tools vary across a similar range — from basic diagnostic trouble code readers to more complex functionality.

ETI Launches Inventors Hub

The Equipment and Tool Institute (ETI) encourages dialogue between all segments of the automobile industry. ETI recently launched Inventors Hub, which is designed to help inventors, technicians, and engineers interested in the opportunity share their ideas with the key manufacturers and distributors of automotive tools and equipment.

“The ETI Inventors Hub website, serves as a conduit between automotive tool inventors and our member companies that manufacture and distribute tools and equipment to assess innovative ideas and develop new tools for the automotive industry,”
explained Jessie Korosec, ETI marketing manager. “This is a valuable opportunity for both sides to develop a product that may save time and eliminate frustration.”

For example, those who may have solutions to tool and equipment problems they may be experiencing, an idea for a tool that doesn’t exist or a way to improve an existing tool can go on the website and submit their patented ideas for review by ETI’s member companies. (Image — ETI)

But aftermarket scan tool manufacturers do face some real challenges. Let’s visit some of them.

Information is a moving target
In the past, it was easier to build scan tools for older model cars because there were so few electronic control units (ECUs) in them. However, toolmakers back then had to overcome both the void of documentation and electrical interfaces that were not completely on the scanner. Today, ECUs have exploded in number and complexity. Corralling this herd of rampaging ECUs and associated parameter identifiers (PIDs) is no easy accomplishment.

The number of ECUs and associated PIDs has gone vertical, according to MXI International Inc. For example, the 1995 Toyota Camry had four electronic control units (ECUs), 85 diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and one active test utility. In contrast, the 2009 Camry had 19 ECUs multiplexing on a controller area network (CAN) supporting 480 DTCs and 21 active test utilities. That’s an increase in vehicle complexity of 475, 565 and 2,100 percent respectively, in just 15 model years.

“Today, cars might now have 70 or more controllers,” says Jay Horak, founder of AutoEnginuity LLC, an aftermarket scan tool manufacturer. “Many BMW and Mercedes controllers, for example, have three or four hundred sensor parameter identifiers (PIDs). This expands the process for aftermarket scan tool manufacturers to get all this into their tools.”

“There were once too many information silos at General Motors (GM),” explains Charlie Gorman, executive manager for the Equipment and Tool Institute (ETI). “For example, GM employed separate development groups designing cars for the same platform, each using different systems. The result: GM did not have full control over their own PID database.”

If a scan tool manufacturer had verified their tool on one model, and there was a mid-year model change that had a new controller, it was certain that scan tool malfunction complaints from service professionals would follow. It’s one reason why some scan toolmakers issue software updates. Yet even when issued, some users fail to update their tool.

Security-Tagging is a Growing Problem

To reduce production costs and the installation space required, airbag control units incorporate anti-lock braking, inertia sensors (that measure yaw rate and lateral acceleration) and other features into one small package. This also can lead to the commingling of vehicle security with general service information in algorithms, datastreams and service information databases. (Image — Robert Bosch GmbH)

“That little bit can be the difference between a scan tool’s data working or not working,” Horak adds. “If a technician gets just one parameter wrong, they’re in the wrong coding tables entirely and they can stay there for some time. It’s easy to do too, especially if there was a half-year model change.”

Fortunately, automakers and scan toolmakers are working together to manage the rampant information problem. Automakers have recently begun to standardize electrical interfaces and PIDs, as well as publishing datastreams. Horak and other aftermarket tool representatives say that this will help aftermarket toolmakers, although there are still legacy issues to work through.

For instance, several years ago, GM recognized the enormity of their PID problem and began addressing it with an engineering team; the task is approximately 85 percent complete.
Other automakers have followed suit, Gorman advises, with some using different methodologies than GM with different levels of success.

“Ford Motor Co., for instance, solved its problem faster and more completely than GM and some other OEMs,” Gorman shares. “Ford tasked Paul Baltusis as its ‘Master of the PID.’ No PID was approved by any of the Ford divisions unless he personally approved it. This meant that all PIDs stayed the same, resulting in more standardization across Ford brands and models.”

Keep general service information pure
Most aftermarket toolmakers and knowledgeable service professionals understand and accept that many automakers believe vehicle security information needs to be segregated with a vetted access process to it, so that vehicle owners are safeguarded.

An emerging concern from toolmakers and service professionals is that general service information is being commingled with vehicle security service information — in algorithms and datastreams. Examples cited by aftermarket scan tool manufacturers include coding for VW/Audi ABS modules, Mercedes-Benz transmission shifter controllers, and others.

NASTF's Secure Data Release Model

Automakers make restricted vehicle security service information and some associated replacement parts available to the aftermarket via the Secure Data Release Model (SDRM), which was developed for the automotive by the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF).

The SDRM process involves formal registration, bonding and vetting by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
To learn how the SDRM works, click on the image above for a walk-through tutorial. (Image — NASTF)

This makes access to the general service information portion more costly. In addition, the access to associated security-tagged replacement parts from some OEMs, such as some European manufacturers, has been restricted or denied entirely to the aftermarket.

But dialogue can resolve concerns like these. Working with NASTF, for example, German-based Daimler AG and its American affiliate, Mercedes-Benz USA, became the first automaker to address and resolve this problem. The automaker recently launched its Theft-Related Parts policy to make both security-tagged service information and associated replacement parts available thru the NASTF’s SDRM. (Click here for more details.)

Gorman agrees that OEMs could make a better effort to segregate bona fide security related information. “If an OEM has security information that it really can’t share, such as changing memory in specific addresses that can change the emissions or performance of a vehicle, then they need to make sure it’s separate from the algorithm that holds the general service information that aftermarket service organizations need competitive access to.”

Change how things are done
“Right now the preferred and traditional method for most aftermarket scan tool companies [when dealing with automakers] is to go through ETI,” Gorman notes. “But NASTF is another viable channel available to them that hasn’t been utilized enough. For example, any scan tool company that feels there is information that they don’t have and should have can file a tool information request through NASTF. It will go to the OEM and that OEM has to respond.”

Gorman also cites the progress that the NASTF Tool and Equipment Committee is achieving by bringing automakers, Tier 1 suppliers, aftermarket scan tool manufacturers, educators and service/repair professionals together in a meaningful way that fosters a trusting dialogue. This committee’s has made substantial progress in its goal to provide technicians with information that will help them make more informed scan tool purchase choices.

But we all need to temper our sense of urgency with patience, Gorman cautions. “Even if we all agreed to change today, it could take several years to see the solution in the marketplace, because it takes a long time for change to bubble through an automaker’s organization and design process. But we should be spending our collective effort in fostering this process.”

QR Barcodes Provide Richer Information

ECUs, airbags and other important components affecting safety, vehicle security or performance could be better managed and tracked by attaching two-dimensional QR code labels to them. Smart devices, including phones and tablets, can read these data-rich codes. (Image — OMRON Corp.)

Technology can change everything
Automakers, like any business, need a value proposition to change. Technology is doing that. Smart phones, tablets and other devices are becoming commonplace. These mobile communications devices have begun to provide an alternative to, or replacement for, personal computers and laptops.

Consider Quick Response (QR) barcodes, which compress a larger and richer amount of information into a small space. Automakers, suppliers and others see the use of QR images as a meaningful way to deliver the rich kind of information required to service vehicles today.

Just imagine if an OEM’s QR-labeled part was delivered to your shop and that, using a smart device, you could read relevant diagnostic, service and installation information in a format that included text, images, and wiring diagrams. Applying QR codes to training, service information and diagnostics could rock the technician’s world.

The acceleration of apps replacing traditional software downloads, at prices that are a fraction of traditional costs, is another potential technological game-changer. Many industries, businesses and individuals have felt the impacts. Automobile service and repair is sitting on the cusp of a coming technological wave that could change the nature of diagnostic scan tool dramatically.

Moving Towards a Single Tool?

Panasonic unveiled details of its next-generation diagnostic tablet at the ‘Future of Automotive Diagnostics’ event held at Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory in Germany. Designed specifically to meet the wide-ranging needs of diagnostic technicians, the device has configurable ports fully designed for customization and able to support all specialist ports for reliable diagnostic data transmission.

“In the fast changing automotive industry, working with the world’s leading global vehicle manufacturers helped us ensure that our next generation diagnostic device meets the needs of workshop technicians and field engineers, both today and tomorrow,” says Russell Younghusband, Panasonic Corp. general manager for diagnostic sales.

Automakers are already ramping up app-based products and information for vehicle owners. There is also work being done to use smart device apps to manage telematics, including diagnostics. Hyundai is actively looking at delivering its service information via smart devices. Panasonic Corp. has just released its new tablet Toughbook, which it collaborated on with several global automakers.

So think about this. What if automakers were to find value in the app-based delivery of all service, diagnostic tool, and training information to any smart phone, tablet or other similar device? A technician’s smart phone, equipped with a vehicle interface, could effectively become a factory-level scan tool for technicians, while simultaneously protecting the proprietary interests of the OEM.

If just one automaker did that, it would be meaningfully innovative. But if most or all OEMs decided to do likewise, that would be revolutionary. We would have a tool in the palm of our hands that our industry has never seen — one that would enable complete vehicle serviceability with factory-level functionality, across all brands and models.